Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives '10-'14 Used Tundra or Dodge Diesel?

Looking at getting another FS 4dr 4wd here soon. HIGHLY partial to Tundras, but looking at other 'possibles'. Like many, still mad at GM, though I'd buy used, and not much of a Ford fan....but Dodge Diesels seem to have some love. Persuade me.

Diesels are great if you have a load to haul but if you don't need the capacity, stay with gas. Since you're considering a Tundra, I assume you can get by with a 1/2 ton so I'd say that a diesel is overkill for your needs.

Typically, I can 'get by', but I do have occasion to do more than what's best for any half ton truck. I'm more concerned with durability/longevity. My towing and hauling and off-road is generally a weekend affair, revolving around hunting, boats, tractors, ATV s, and mild off road stuff. Long road trips, often. A heavier built truck probably lasts longer when used as a truck. I could also maybe grab another car for commute stuff to save wear on any truck, if I had to. Do I really need a 3/4-1 ton diesel? You're prolly right... but I could use one over a half ton, on occasion, and it might live longer....not sure.

I have a 2014 crew cab dodge diesel with 50k miles and no issues so far. Mixed driving I get 15.5 mpg and freeway 18 mpg. The interior room and bed space are really nice for hunting trips. Towing the toys with plenty of power to spare is a bonus. I have friends that complain about their Tundra mileage but I'm not sure how bad it really is.

If you're towing something sizeable, the diesel is best. If not, then I'd go with the gasser. Much less expensive to maintain.

One note on the Dodge / Ram diesel trucks: the 3/4 and 1-ton models are equipped with the Cummins turbodiesel; plenty of power there. But the 1/2-ton models carry a Fiat-made diesel engine. So not the same.

I don't what all years this applies to but my Dodge is an '08 and it does apply. Dodge 3/4 and 1 tons are identical except for the springs. All the bearings, brakes, axles, etc. and interchangeable. My 3/4 has factory air bags and when they're aired up, it will hold a bunch of weight.

It also requires a ladder to get in the bed while the Tundra has a very low bed. That's something for the OP to consider. I added wheel to wheel nerf bars so I can get at stuff in the front of the bed. I'm 6' tall and the Dodge bed rails are too high to reach over. I also added one of these truck steps on the rear.

Two different vehicles for two different uses. For offroad hands down I'd take the Tundra, for pulling a heavy load hands down the Ram diesel.

I had a 2006 ram 2500 diesel, it was a great truck and I still wish I had it. The downsides are, it is heavy and front heavy so not a great offroad truck. The dodge front ends will need a rebuild at ~100k miles and that will set you back $2-3k depending on the shop. Used trucks have great resale which means for a '10-14 you might as well buy a new one especially when you factor in possible repair costs. If you do buy used, don't get one that somebody has chipped as you could be looking at expensive engine and drive train repairs.

For towing any appreciable load the diesel is the way to go. The torque makes pulling a load a joy, and the added weight and stiffness of the suspension of the truck gives you control over the load vs. the load controlling you. The downside is such trucks are not as enjoyable driving unloaded.

I'm looking at mostly highway commuting and weekend 'truck' stuff, until I can swing a daily driver to 'save' my truck for towing, hauling, and hunting road trips.

assuming you aren't towing more than say 7000#, I'd go Tundra. I'm also biased - I love my Tundra.

I here you, somehow my 2500 ram was my daily driver for 10 years and I didn't get a commuter until my kid totaled the truck. Hopefully next year I'll be getting a replacement.

Aside from the rougher ride with the 2500, I really appreciated the larger cab. I don't know the magic number where a diesel "makes sense" for towing, but if you're dealing with mountain passes I'd highly recommend the diesel. My boat/trailer is roughly 4000#'s with fuel and gear, add another 1000# for passengers in the truck and I could run 65 up mountain passes and plenty of leftover torque to accelerate. The only time I worked my truck was hauling ~8 yds of damp topsoil. The empty trailer was 4000 pounds.

I'll do most heavy hauling (double axle w/tractors or pontoons) for short distances....100mi or less. I'll haul small boats and ATV trailers all over. I'd considered a travel trailer occasionally, also. I just need and have always had a truck,but hate to pile the miles on it when I can help it. It's Toyota or a diesel for lifespan, in my mind.

It's not quite a 3/4 ton,but the Tundra's compare pretty closely to a 3/4 ton gas truck. The frames are heavier, they come with either 4.30 or 3.90 gears compared to 3.31, 3.55 or 3.73 in most 1/2 tons. With that gearing no wonder they get poor fuel mileage You're looking at about 2 mpg worse than Ford/Chevy/Dodge 1/2 tons. Over 100,000 miles you're looking at about $1,750 more in fuel costs figured at about $2.20/gal. How much more would you spend on repair bills in 100,000 miles driving something else? Toyota's don't need a lot of work to keep them running.

I've had a Tacoma for the last 10 years and been extremely pleased. But the truck has become too small for us and I was looking to buy a 1/2 ton last year at this time. I was looking at about the same years as you and looked hard for a Tundra. But an internet search everywhere between Chattanooga and Atlanta only turned up 5-6 Tundra's that came close to meeting my requirements and none at a price I wanted to pay. I found over 200 F-150's and several that I seriously considered before narrowing it to the one I bought.

The biggest thing that pushed me to Ford was the 36 gallon fuel tank. Tundra only started offering it as an option in 2014 I believe and I found none equipped so. I found that used Tundra's were more expensive, but I could have bought a new one for less than Ford. We decided we wanted to keep the Tacoma as a 3rd vehicle rather than trade it. I could have afforded to buy new if I were willing to let the Tacoma go. But it was just more valuable for us to keep it.

We also have a small Honda for commuting around town and short trips. It gets 35-40 mpg and saves wear and tear on the trucks when the truck isn't needed. I just bought 4 tires for the Honda and paid about 30%-40% of what it would cost for tires on the F-150.

After my experiences with fords, it'll be hell for me to pay good $ for one and sleep at night or feel good about driving it out of town. I realize my experience may not be typical, but it's hard to get over or give them a third chance. I like some things about some ford trucks, but not some others. I trust Toyotas from decades in many different models, from old FJs to my last Tundra. I used to trust chevy/GM. I trust cummings' rep, just not sure about the rest of the Dodge around them yet.

I have a 2011 Tundra that I have hauled an 8000 pound trailer A BUNCH with, and it's tighter right now than the 2014 Ford 350 was when I drove it off the dealers lot. It's very comfortable around town, and haven't put a nickel into it for repairs. When I say towed a bunch, I mean several thousands of miles, including one trip from Montana to souther Oregon, up through Washington, into Canada, up to the Yukon, across into Fairbanks and back home again.
Another trip was to Bella Coola, and if you want to see some scary road, go on U tube and look up "The Hill" on the road to Bella Coola from Watson Lake. It's steeper than hell, narrow and dirt, and the Toyota handled that like a champ. I probably would have been better off with a diesel, but that diesel didn't get much better mileage towing than the Tundra, and the $100 oil changes were aggravating.

We seriously considered a Tundra when we bought a pickup 4 years ago. If they made a 3/4 ton we'd have bought one for sure. We ended up with a Dodge 2500 diesel and I love it. Our camper is only 23' and 5000lb but for hunting, I stick a stock rack in the pickup and load up 4 llamas. That adds around 1700lb. For summer camping, I might have a 1000 lb Razor in the pickup instead of the llamas. The Dodge handles it beautifully. It's a long bed plus a quad cab so it's 23' long. I get my exercise by parking at the far end of parking lots away from the crowds.

I agree with you on this^^^.

I've got a 2016 Tundra and a 1999 dodge diesel. The dodge was my daily driver for years until diesel prices went through the roof. It's got 385K miles on it now and it mostly just gets used for pulling the gooseneck, it's 2WD so it's not that great for a hunting vehicle. It's been a fantastic vehicle and driving that cummins is just a joy, it gives you a woodie. The newer models are more powerful but at the expense of fuel mileage and complexity. The fuel mileage of the newer diesels is probably going to be about the same as the Tundra.

The tundra is great too, obviously much more refined but it's not the beast of a truck that the dodge diesel is. Some like to say the tundra is almost a 3/4 ton but it's not, it's a half ton. It's definitely less robust than a 3/4 or 1 ton from the others. It's stouter than other half tons on the market though.

My tundra averages about 15.5-16 mpg overall. My dodge diesel averages 20-21 but diesel fuel is 20 cents a gallon more. I also have a 2014 toyota camry that's my runabout car and it's what I drive 95% of the time, I don't use the trucks as daily drivers, the fuel cost is too much for my blood. Those claiming diesels are more expensive for routine maintenance are wrong, my experience is that they're essentially the same considering the diesel has a longer oil change interval.

When it came time for a new truck I went with the tundra instead of another diesel for a few reasons. The first is fuel costs, diesels now get about the same mileage as gassers and the fuel costs are more, the fuel cost savings is no longer there. Complexity is the second reason, the new emissions equipment is crazy complex and they're costly to fix nowadays. Initial price is the third reason, the diesels are crazy expensive now. All truck are expensive but they're asking insane prices for diesels, I just couldn't justify it.

Found a '09 Dodge 2500 4wd 4dr w/8' bed and manual trans w/under 70k miles here locally. It might be a contender...lotta truck, that. LOL

That's identical to my '08. There might be 1 issue - the diesel particulate filter. Every so many miles it does a burn off. If it doesn't it'll get sluggish. Mine has had a DPF delete so there's no more issue. My partner has a late '07 with the same setup and he has to run it hard every so often to burn it off.
I'm no diesel mechanic so I can't explain it any better than that. Hopefully someone else can.

I's not so much about the gas economy vs the extra expense of diesel fuel,but everything maintenance wise on a diesel cost more. I really like my 98,but it takes 3 gallons of oil each change. An injector pump will run $2K. If injectors go bad and they do, they are $1k each. If you can't do your own work on them,a lot of shops don't know squat about working on diesels. Then you find good diesel shop and you will find they cost more

The pulling power is amazing,but you pay for it in many ways

Well, was aware of some added costs with diesel maintenance, but actually thought they needed less maintenance, overall?

Kinda scaring me off if I'm gonna be spending $5k/yr in maintenance?